Espresso at a hang-out in Zamalek, Cairo, a breeze in Fall in
Constantinople, sunset at Lake Awassa, Sunny day during
the Monsoon Season in Mahabalipuram, trip in the Great Rift Valley
of Africa with dad in a land rover, moon-lit evening in Konso,
high-above the sky in South East Asian Hill Stations, the Clinton
years.

Sounds and Smell:

The dogs of Addis, traffic in Cairo, an Istanbul ferry blowing
its horn, Americanfarmer's market, quietness of Lake Chamo, chants of
a Coptic priest, Baba Maal, A Senegalese guriot, A Lalibela Song,
cracking of August rain on tin-roofed house in Addis, Smell of
fresh-roasted coffee, incense, and fresh-cut grass in an Ethiopian
coffee-ceremony, Aster Awoke’s concert, California afternoons,
the 5AM shouts of "chai-sir!, chai-sir!" in the great
Indian trains.

Reverse
brain-drain, the pursuit of happiness, liberty and freedom respected in all
corners of the continent of the Pyramids, the Nile and the Sahara.

Recently Read Books:

Mostly great writers from Egypt, India,
Turkey, Ethiopia
and other similar places.

Palace Walk – Naguib Mafouz

A great narrative of life in Cairo during the Englishoccupation and more.

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond

A refreshing perspective.

Istanbul
– Memories of the City – Orhan Pamuk

Pamuk is a great Turkish writer and will be even better if
he adds a little of “Ne mutlu Turkum/Osmanli diyene’ to the
excessive yearning for Europeanness in his stories.

Auto-biography – Ato
Mamo Wudneh

A great Ethiopian story of a
an interesting individual who rose to become one of the country’s
prolific writers. Not unlike many Ethiopians of modest background of his
time, he started elementary school at the age of 15.

Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

What thousands of newspaper articles and ads couldn’t
achieve in introducing the beautiful human dimension of the Afghani
people, K. Hosseini manages with one great story.

The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy

Perhaps, one of the most unforgettable stories to come out
of India
in the past several years. Arundhati puts Kerala on the map long before
the current trend.